Woe

[bladespark]

Well, Guardian is not done. Not even close to being done. Getting a good looking shade of purple that will go on evenly is really hard! Interference paints look awesome, but they really take some getting used to.

And of course today I have no time to work on it, I've got a Cheshire cat to sew, since my machine is fixed. Turns out the problem is that I had a bent bobbin. It was such a tiny little bend that I honestly would never have spotted it, but the sewing machine repair place folks noticed it right off. So new bobbin has been put in, and all should be well. I wasn't even charged for the fix. Woo!

I guess I'll be working on Guardian again next weekend, or over Christmas, or something. Too much to do this week.

Comments

[reaverta.livejournal.com]

What is interference paint?

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Interference paint is a very interesting metallic paint that behaves differently in different lighting, and when on different colors.

For example, the violet interference paint I am using, when painted on black, looks like a very deep metallic purple in regular indoor lighting, but in sunlight is a lighter shade that's brighter and more intense in the highlights. But if painted on white is totally invisible in normal light, but in sunlight has a pale purple "flash" that's only visible on the highlights. Put it over gold, and you get paint that's gold, yet has purple highlights that shift with the lighting. It's really interesting stuff, but it's particles in a suspension, which makes it difficult to paint on evenly, you tend to get blotchy brush marks if you're not very careful, and thinning it down to remove the brush marks makes it too thin for the effect to work properly.

[reaverta.livejournal.com]

...Is that what they use on Chamelion paint work for those cars?

If so, I hadn't realised you could get the stuff on model-scales.

*dies in happy at the sudden thought of a paintjob he'd wanted to do on a 'holographic camoflague' model for ages*

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

"Those cars" are something I know nothing about, so I've no idea. But if you want to get a color or two of interference paint to fiddle around with, Golden is the brand name. And you'd probably want the "liquid" not the heavy body. And the "fine" not the coarse. Any largish art supply store will cary the stuff.

[reaverta.livejournal.com]

Chamelion paint on "Those cars" is what gives the effect of having a car look blue from one angle, and then blend into yellow from another.

You rarely get a solid colour from any one angle, so the whole effect - especially as you or it move past one another - can be quite striking.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Ah, right. Well, the stuff they make auto paint out of is only somewhat like artist's acrylics, but this can, when used properly, give a very similar effect, yes. (Also, nailpolish sometimes comes in pre-mixed one layer "cameleon" type colors, if you want another possible source for that effect. I used to have some that was saphire blue, with green from the right angle, the way some beetles are.)

[reaverta.livejournal.com]

What I've actually seen, and would love to recreate, is the effect where the colours on the model almost seem to 'float' a smidgeon out from the model itself, almost holographically, with the colours shifting depending on what angle you looked at it from.

If I could ever work out how to get the shimmer to do [i]that[/i], I would be a happy, happy man.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Nailpolish, man. Seriously. There are some kinds of nailpolish that have a similar effect.

[reaverta.livejournal.com]

In otherwise dark colours?

Bright blue and pink sparkles would not a camoflague make. ;)

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Well, you're not going to see olive green. Or anything dull. But the one I have is royal blue and dark green, so there are some darker colors.

[reaverta.livejournal.com]

Oooh. Dark green might be usable.

*resolves to look into it*

[keplilly.livejournal.com]

Be sure to let us know how it goes! I bet it will look great in the end. :-)